The
Kodak DCS 460c was the second digital Nikon camera used by NASA in space,
replacing the NASA Nikon F4 Electronic Still Camera
(NASA's home grown digital system). The DCS460c was a much more compact,
higher resolution body that made its debut in space aboard the shuttle
Atlantis in March of 1996.

The
DCS460 was produced for NASA in three versions: Colour, Monochrome and
Infrared, and all were configured with a Nikon N90s body. The digital
back was capable of rendering 6 megapixel images at 12 bits/colour. Its
imager measured 18.4mm x 27.6mm which yielded a magnification of the focal
length of only 1.3x compared to modern Nikon DX format digital sensors
which magnify the focal length by 1.5x.

The
camera allowed for normal operation in all exposure modes and had a continuous-frame
capture rate of approximately 12 seconds/image. Its large rechargeable
battery pack was installed inside the digital back on the side of the
drive, and would yield 250 images per charge.

The
Kodak DCS460 cameras played a key role in being able to transmit high
resolution images back to Earth in near-real time. The camera was also
an essential figure in the highly successful EarthKam
project which students were able to send instructions to space of images
they wanted photographed, and have those images returned directly from
the Space Station.

This
page will provide more detail on the specific camera depicted below, pointing
out its unique attributes. This camera is the most historically significant
camera I have ever owned as it is the unit used by Astronaut
Frank Culbertson, to photograph the aftermath of the Terrorist
attacks on New York City on September 11, 2001. I never felt right about
owning such an important piece of history, so in 2013 the camera found
a new home at a space museum and will hopefully be featured in a future
public exhibit

This
camera boarded the Shuttle Discovery for Mission STS-102 on March 8th,
2001. This was a supply mission to the International Space Station. The
camera was part of the Station's payload and would serve to photograph
earth during Expeditions ISS002 and ISS003. The camera then remained on
the Space Station until the middle of December of that year, before finally
returning to earth on December 17th, 2001, aboard Shuttle Endeavour's
mission STS-108

Note
the "Class III Not for Flight' decal applied to the grip. When an
item returns from a mission, NASA inspects the equipment thoroughly. During
this inspection they would looks for points of failure and either address
them or decommission the equipment.
An item may also be decommissioned if the equipment is made obsolete.
When this decommissioning takes place, the NOT FOR FLIGHT decal would
generally be applied and the unit would be taken out of service

The second
decal that appears on the front indicates that this particular model was
a Colour Digital camera. There were other versions that NASA used including
a monochrome and an infrared model.

Two other
decals appear on the front. The first is an ISS PLD decal to denote this
was International Space Station payload, and therefore was likely not
used while it was on the Space Shuttle enroute to or from the Space Station.

The large
decal is the Johnson Space Center's inventory tag. This tag carries various
information regarding the item so it can be catalogued correctly in NASA's
Functional Equipment History Log.

Light
blue velcro patches are applied by NASA to equipment that is used in zero
gravity. This enables pieces to be held in place when not being used,
and prevents them from floating around inside the shuttle or space station.

Note
the image above showing the top of the camera body. Instructions to the
astronauts have been painted on the side of the finder to remind them
to adjust the exposure compensator on the camera (denoted with the plus/minus
sign) to "-1.3" when they take photographs with a flash unit.
Little 'cheat sheet' decals and instructions like this are common on the
space cameras.

The rear
of the camera features a number of NASA decals, with some of them being
'cheat sheet' reminders. Although Astronauts were given fairly extensive
training in the photographic equipment at the Johnson Space Center in
Houston, TX it was no doubt very helpful to have these additional aids.

Connections
on the rear of the digital back were for attaching various equipment,
such as intervalometers and for downloading directly through a SCSI cable
to a computer while on the Station.

NASA's
photographic equipment that had metal casings would usually have the NASA
part number (SEDxxxxxxx-xxx) engraved, however parts that were softer
(such as plastics or wires), would usually have decals with the part and
NASA serial numbers

Note
the decal that shows 'ASA 100 200'. This is an interesting decal. The
consumer version of the Kodak DCS460c Colour model was designed to have
an effective sensor sensitivity of ISO 80. This decal suggests that perhaps
the NASA version may have had a modified sensor enabling it to be more
sensitive to low light.

The camera
has its Part Number decal on the rear. The camera is prefixed ESC to denote
(Electronic Still Camera)

A door
on the side would store the camera's Hard Drive. This was before the days
of the memory card, so the camera hard drive was considerably larger.

NASA
did not surplus their hard drives. The actual drives NASA used were made
by Callunacard. Initially, they had a storage capacity of 260MB so they
could store 42 images. Eventually the storage was increased to 520MB on
the drives for later flights.

The serial
number on this camera is 460-2274. This serial number can be tagged back
to the Metafile from the actual digital images produced by this camera.
Over 100 images from this camera and their metafile data can be found
on NASA's online image library

As mentioned, this camera is specially unique as it was the camera that
Astronaut Frank Culbertson used to photograph New York City on September
11th, 2001 hours after the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center.
Here is one of the images this camera made that day:http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov/scripts/sseop/photo.pl?mission=ISS003&roll=E&frame=5388Image courtesy of the Image Science & Analysis Laboratory, NASA
Johnson Space Center

Scrolling
down the page, look for the VIEW CAMERA FILE button and click it to see
the metafile tagged to the image

Note
the matching serial number.

The original
label from NASA's inventory is still adhered to the lens. I have kept
it in place for context. Not sure if it adds value or not.
The label lists the Manufacturer, a description of the item, the NASA
part number (SED XXXX), the NASA serial number, a condition code. I understand
a 4 means that the item is operating and good cosmetic condition, but
is obsolete. A condition code of 7 means that the item is likely in need
of servicing but is cost prohibitive or obsolete. An inventory cost, likely
for NASA to keep track of capital expenditures, is also featured on the
label

The label
also has an ORG and FSC notation, however I was unable to identify what
those meant.
You will note that this lens description includes a notation that this
lens flew on Shuttle
mission STS-65in July 1994 aboard Shuttle Columbia and
again on STS-74
in November of 1995 aboard Shuttle Atlantis

This
particular lens, a wide angle, is a plastic barrel and as such, the NASA
identification part number and serial number are on a black label affixed
to the lens itself. This particular lens' decal is hidden beneath the
Johnson Space Center inventory tag

CLICK
HERE to learn about my NASA DCS460C Digital Camera used on the
1st and 2nd expeditions at the International Space Station. This one captured
shots of the Space Shuttle above earth and even shots of the Space Station
itself from the Soyuz Russian spacecraft

CLICK
HERE to learn about the NASA DCS460C Digital Camera used on the
2nd and 3rd expeditions at the International Space Station. This one captured
the aftermath in New York City on 9/11

CLICK
HERE for the NASA Nikon Serial Number Database; a never ending
work in progress to record all the film-based and early digital Nikon
gear used in the Gemini, Apollo and Shuttle eras and the early days of
the International Space Station